Audi to start selling premium A3 Sedan in India from mid-2014

March 23, 2014

Audi_A3_SedanIngolstad (Germany), Mar 23: German luxury auto brand Audi will begin selling its premium A3 Sedan in India from middle of the year and the much-awaited car will be rolled out from the company's production facility in Aurangabad.

The brand with the four rings said it has decided to assemble A3 in India from the launch stage itself expecting that it will become a driver of growth for the company. India will be among very few countries where the luxury sedan will be produced locally.

The sale of A3 Sedan has started in only a few countries in Europe. It will be launched in the US next month.

Audi Group CEO Rupert Stadler said that India is a "strategically important market" for the company as the country has huge growth potential for luxury car segment.

Stadler said the company was struggling with depreciation of the currency in India and was looking forward to economic reforms, particularly in the taxation system by the new government after the parliamentary election.

In January, Audi India had reported 11 per cent growth in its 2013 sales at 10,002 units in India, thus becoming the first luxury car maker to cross the 10,000 milestone in the country. The company had sold 9,003 units in 2012.

Audi started local production in September 2007 with the Audi A6. It currently produces the Audi A4, Audi Q5, new Audi A6, Audi Q7 and Audi Q3 at its production facility in Aurangabad. Over 24,000 cars have been produced in Aurangabad in Maharashtra since the start of production in September 2007.

Asked about Audi's expansion plan for India, the CEO of the Audi Group, which has been one of the most successful car manufacturers in the premium and supercar segment, said the company would like to know the new government's policy initiatives on the economy.

"It depends on certain framework. First of all we would like to listen to the new political regime. We would like to see how the economy gets back to the next growth pattern," he said, expressing confidence about rolling out of certain reforms in the economy.

Stadler said he was looking for structural reforms in the India economy, including policy initiatives in the financial sector.

Member of the Board of Management of Audi Luca de Meo said the company has "decided to go for local production of A3 in India in the middle of the year because we see potential for it in the luxury car segment."

The Audi A3 is expected to compete with the Mercedes A-class and B-class and BMW's 1-series.

Audi India CEO Joe King said the company would like to bring every single luxury car to India but decisions in this regard will be taken based on consumer demand.

He said 92 per cent of the car deliveries by Audi in India last year were produced in the Aurangabad plant.

Audi group delivered over 1.5 million Audi brand cars in 2013 across the world.

The company has decided to invest between now and 2018 around 22 billion euro in innovations and new technologies as well as in expanding its worldwide manufacturing structures.

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Agencies
March 13,2020

Amid the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), which has infected 73 people in India and killed more than 4,500 individuals globally, doctors have advised that in addition to regularly washing hands, one should also disinfect their smartphone every 90 minutes with alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

Ravi Shekhar Jha, Head of Department at Fortis Escorts Hospital in Faridabad said the best method to disinfect your smartphone is to use regular doctor spirit or the alcohol-based hand sanitizer at least every 90 minutes.

"Avoid touching your eyes, mouth, or nose. The best option is to use a phone cover or a Bluetooth device and try to touch your phone as less as possible. We would also recommend cleaning your phone at least twice a day," Jha told IANS.

According to research, published in 2018 by Insurance2Go, a gadget insurance provider, revealed that smartphone screens have three times more germs than a toilet seat.

One in 20 smartphone users was found to clean their phones less than every six months, said the study.

"In the time of fear of coronavirus, smartphones should also be disinfected with alcohol-based sanitizer rub. Pour few drops of sanitizer on a tiny clean cotton pad and rub it safely on your entire phone," said Jyoti Mutta, Senior Consultant, Microbiology, Sri Balaji Action Medical Institute in New Delhi.

"You can repeat this process every evening coming back home after an entire day out at work and once in the morning before going out," Mutta added.

"Maintain basic cleanliness, and try to avoid using other's phones especially if suffering from respiratory illness or flu-like symptoms as there is no other way to disinfect these regular gadgets," she stressed.

Another study from the University of Surrey in the UK, also found that the home button on your smartphone may be harbouring millions of bacteria - some even harmful.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus as a global pandemic on Wednesday. The death toll of COVID-19 has crossed the 4,500 marks and confirmed cases globally have touched one lakh as per the reports.

According to Suranjeet Chatterjee, Senior Consultant in Internal Medicine Department of Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals in New Delhi, "We should frequently wash our hands, cover our coughs and it is important to adapt to other good hygiene habits that are most important in such a situation."

"Coronavirus and other germs can live on surfaces like glass, metal or plastics and phones are bacteria-ridden. It is necessary that we sanitize our hands frequently and make sure that our hands are clean all the time," Chatterjee told IANS.

"The emphasis should be laid on sanitising our hands rather than sanitizing the phone - once in a while the phone can be sanitized under the guidance of the makers of the phone," Chatterjee stressed.

According to the global health agency, the most effective way to protect yourself against coronavirus is by frequently cleaning of your hands with alcohol-based hand rub or washing them with soap and water.

The WHO's report showed the virus infects people of all ages, among which older people and those with underlying medical conditions are at a higher risk of getting infected.

People should eat only well-cooked food, avoid spitting in public, and avoid close contact, the WHO said, adding that it is important for people to seek medical care at the earliest if they become sick.

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Agencies
June 7,2020

New Delhi, Jun 7: The Government of India (GoI) must strengthen the laws to protect animals, said People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India CEO Dr Manilal Valliyate on Sunday, following an elephant's death in Kerala and cow injured due to ingestion of explosives in Himachal Pradesh.

"Such incidents are not just restricted to certain regions but are happening all across the country. PETA receives more than 100 similar cases every day. People send in their complaints to us, not just for cows and elephants but for so many other animals as well," he said.

The PETA chief urged the GoI to strengthen the laws established to protect animals.

"As per the current laws set out against animal cruelty, the perpetrator would only be charged Rs 50,000 as a fine. That is equivalent to no punishment at all," added PETA India CEO.

He expressed his anguish against municipal agencies as well, saying that they are not doing "serious" work. He also highlighted how cows are left on the roads to wander, after milking them, to feed on garbage, in several parts of the country.

"These injustices against animals through explosives has been going on for quite a while. But for the first time, it has received such public attention," he said.

After a pregnant elephant was fed cracker-filled pineapple and her eventual death on May 27 in Kerala's Palakkad district, a pregnant cow sustained fatal injuries on May 25 due to accidental ingestion of explosives in Dadh village of Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh.

One person has been arrested in the Dadh village for allegedly hurting the cow.

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Agencies
January 4,2020

Washington D.C: One of the greatest spectacles of modern art is still thriving in the Australian outback as confirmed by satellite imagery of NASA. The Marree Man is a massive geoglyph depicting an aboriginal hunter, that spans over 2.6 miles in the Southern Australian region.

Discovered by a pilot in 1998, its origin still remains a mystery even to this date.

The Marree Man was given a new lease of life in 2016 when a group of people from the neighboring town of Marree plowed its lines to avert its fading due to erosion.

After NASA shared the image of the art-work that was taken in June, the efforts of the good samaritans turned out to be a total success, reported CNN Travel.

The restoration team believes that the refurbished Marree Man would last longer than its original version.

According to NASA, "They [the team] created wind grooves, designed to trap water and encourage the growth of vegetation. They hope that eventually, the man will turn green."

In a previous article, CNN reported that an entrepreneur by the name of Dick Smith took upon himself to unravel the geoglyph's mystery in 2016. His team combed through all the available evidence but couldn't find anything conclusive.

In 2018 he even offered a 5,000 Australian dollar reward for anyone who knows the identity of its creator.

Nobody turned up with an answer but it was speculated that unknown artist lives in Alice Springs or even might be an American.

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